Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia should enhance cooperation in prevention and combat of drug crime: General To Lam

PANO – The 18th Trilateral/Bilateral Vietnam – Laos – Cambodia Ministerial Meeting on Drug Control Cooperation officially opened in Hanoi on September 11. General To Lam, Member of the Politburo, Minister of Public Security, Vice Chairman of the National Committee for AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution Prevention and Control attended and delivered a keynote speech.

The Trilateral/Bilateral Vietnam – Laos – Cambodia Ministerial Meeting on Drug Control Cooperation took place right after the Ministerial Meeting on Enhancing Effectiveness in Combating Transnational Drug Crime organized under Vietnam’s initiative.

Minister To Lam speaking at the event. (Photo: VNA)

Speaking at the opening session, Minister To Lam emphasized that the situation of drug crime has become more and more complex as drug criminals have used increasingly sophisticated tricks and methods.

The Government of Vietnam has always attached great importance to drug prevention and fight, stressed Minister Lam. Over the past 20 years, the trilateral/bilateral cooperation mechanism on drug prevention and fight among/between Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos has made great contributions to drug prevention and combat.

The Minister also warned that transnational drug trafficking rings now seek to take advantage of geopolitical characteristics, customs and practices of residents along borderlines, trade and economic activities across the borderline between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as well as limitations and weaknesses in border patrol, check and management to transport large batches of drugs across the borderlines.

Against this backdrop, Minister To Lam urged, the three countries promote their cooperation, mobilize their internal forces and foreign supports to effectively prevent and combat drug crime along the shared borderlines and in the three countries.

After the opening ceremony, the participating delegations of the three countries started a plenary session, during which delegates reviewed and assessed the real situation of drug production, trading and trafficking in the region as well as in their countries, particularly along the shared borderlines. They noted that the situation drug production, trading and trafficking in the region has become more complex over the past years, which has undermined the social basis, caused big social and economic losses, and threatened national security of the three countries.

In this circumstance, border-sharing countries should join efforts to fight all drug-related crimes. Delegates of the three countries agreed to give priorities to prevent and control drug production, trade and transportation in each country, and promote cooperation and coordination to launch intensive campaign against drug crime along the shared borderlines, crack down on transnational drug trafficking networks and arrest large drug dealers and ring leaders.

They also agreed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the current Border Liaison Offices (BLO) and establish more BLOs, support each other in building capacity for anti-drug forces, and launch more law dissemination and drug harm information drives targeting people living along the shared borderlines between the three countries.